Tonight is the Dark[est]Moon, and tomorrow morning the New[est]Moon, so tonight is an auspicious time to do ceremony for releasing what no longer serves our highest good, then set intentions for the coming month. Let’s prepare now for what is coming: the most anticipated Winter Solstice in millenia, 12.21.12, followed by the somewhat anticlimatic but always wildly celebrated Julian New Year, 1.1.13.

Artist Veronica Funk recently shared a personal tradition on her blog http://www.veronicafunk.com/1/post/2012/12/word-of-the-year-wisdom.html. Instead of making a list of New year’s resolutions, which she found are easily forgotten, she finds one word that represents her intentions for the year. She paints that word on the cover of her annual journal, so each day she is reminded of her intentions (and, I imagine, often creates entries based on how that word and the intentions it represents are showing up in her life).

Today I am immersed in DarkMoon introspection and magic. My weekly coaching call took me on a shamanic healing quest where I heard my WiseWommon advisor tell me to let go of fear in order to regain my health (thus easily and enjoyably launching my work in the world, wahoo!). The healing image that came to me in this trance was of a huge golden eagle, soaring effortlessly up a thermal.

And so I will consult both my “intuitive” and Roget’s thesauruses (thesauri–Who knows proper Latin nowadays?) for my YearWord. Fearless? Health? Wellness? Light? Soar? Suggestions, anyone? I have a week to find my word–and to purchase a new journal (I have the acrylics and brushes ready to install the title and “cover art”–yes, stomach butterflies, I am no longer afraid of making imperfect art! I will use those new paints!

Here I am Traveling Lighter on the Beauty Way last September:

I intend to embody that playful spirit even in winter, when the trees are bare and the flowers frost-killed and my feet squeezed into wooly socks and clogs, even when I’m “building” my website, even when I’m “working” or “organizing” or “decluttering,” as well as after a 4-day Traveling Light Year retreat. A carefully chosen one-word reminder will definitely be useful. I’ll post it here when I’ve committed it to paint!

Do you have a word for the transformation or commitment you are resolved to manifest next year? [Veronica and] I suggest you post or paint it somewhere you will see it every day. If you find sharing your intentions brings useful accountablity, post your YearWord here, on Veronica’s blog, on my Facebook page (where you can “share” the link to Veronica’s blog w/ your own FB tribe, Tweet it, wherever!